Licence to care

Jassi Brar, Ashley Stace and Vera Amorim. Photo Jim Tannock

SOPHIE PREECE

IT’S 30 years since Bryan and Jan Johnson planted vines in the Waihopai Valley, and 20 since they founded Spy Valley winery in the heart of their vineyards. Throughout those three decades they’ve embedded an ethos of care throughout the company, says their daughter Amanda Johnson, managing director of Spy Valley Wines. “I would like to think that as a small family business we have always had a focus on our staff and known them well. My dad made sure he knew everyone’s names, and knew what everyone’s kids were up to. We always tried to be a tight unit.”

That culture of consideration came to the fore in the inaugural Marlborough Wine Industry Wellness Week in May, in which Spy Valley took out the Marlborough Wine Industry Workplace Wellbeing Impact Award for its Taco Tuesday event. The entire Spy Valley team of 35, including vineyard, winery and office crews, connected during a Mexican feast cooked up by Santiago Vadillo Reyes and the marketing team in the wake of harvest. From there they went through to the winery for a preview of the 2023 vintage straight from tanks and barrels, gleaning insights into the wines, but also the technology at use in the winery and lab.

Wine Marlborough advocacy manager Nicci Armour says the seemingly simple initiative covered several aspects of the Five Ways to Wellbeing – connect, take notice, give, keep learning, be active – and was “nourishing on multiple levels”. The judges applauded its inclusivity and accessibility, says Nicci. “Taco Tuesday is an excellent example showcasing that supporting wellbeing in the workplace does not need to be complicated or costly.”

Spy’s communal feast was devised for Wellness Week, but is a pretty typical event for the company, with previous initiatives including yoga in the board room, hula hoop classes on the lawn, touch tournaments outside the cellar door, and vintage tastings for staff. Just weeks after Taco Tuesday there was a cricket match in the warehouse, which was empty for the first time in 20 years. A roller disco was on the cards for a while, as was a drive-in James Bond movie, but the pitch for a cricket clash – with teams a mix of office, winery and vineyard staff – took top spot, to the delight of winery manager Jassi Brar, who plays for a local team. “Literally everyone from all different departments showed up,” says marketing manager Della Offord, part of a crowd cheering from the side lines. The culture is also reflected in personal wellbeing activities, like the groups that head out for a walk in their lunch break, pick fruit for the smoko room if the vineyard’s plums and apples are ripe, or harvest produce from the communal vegetable boxes outside the winery.

Wellbeing, health and safety are all part of the company’s core values, which are listed in a large mural running down the hallway “to hold ourselves accountable”, says Della. The values were devised by the senior leadership team a month before Covid-19 hit New Zealand, then further developed through staff insights, some of which are quoted on the mural, such as: “flourish and prosper”; “speak up”; “show empathy”; and “respect others”. Amanda says everyone has their professional job at Spy, but the core values (which are considered in the employment process) challenge them all to consider their behaviours, with an expectation that everyone will “pitch in” to create a good culture.

Created on the cusp of Covid, the values proved key in the years that followed, as did the Employee Assistance Programme the company has long subscribed to, says Amanda. “We were very mindful of looking out for our people and their families during that period.” Now that borders are open and restrictions largely lifted, the culture of care continues. When it comes to the push of vintage, Spy Valley offers meals and baking, like many companies, and uses an internal WhatsApp group, which was first established to engage staff isolated at home or in a bubble at work during Covid. This year Della ran a photo competition on the app to keep everyone engaged, connected and frequently amused.

Meanwhile, Amanda runs a tight ship when it comes to work schedules, with a hard and fast rule that no one works over their rostered hours at vintage, or misses a scheduled day off. “That’s really important to me; a. from a health and safety perspective, but also so people are getting proper rest and recovery.”

Talk in the smoko room this year reflected appreciation for that hard line, with several international cellar hands saying they had never worked a vintage without overtime and had always missed the breaks they needed. Amanda also makes sure staff who’ll work big vintage hours take time before and after harvest, so they’re rested in the lead up to vintage and can recover in the aftermath

Della says the company’s wellbeing ethos is rolled out in simple and effective ways, like an extra day of leave for birthdays, and the Covid leave implemented in recent years, ensuring that staff home with the virus didn’t use up their sick leave. And it’s also on a personal level, Della adds, recalling her daughter being in hospital and Amanda showing up at her front door with a home-made banana cake. They’re family values the managing director carries with her personally, “and is transferring as the mum leading the team”, Della says. “The key thing that shines through is that it’s very genuine.”

Judges in the Marlborough Wine Industry Wellness Week created a whole new award to recognise the leadership shown by Yealands in the wellness space, awarding them the Marlborough Wine Industry Workplace Wellbeing Leadership Award. Yealands’ many wellbeing initiatives will be profiled in the July Winepress.

Good stuff

There are many excellent initiatives already taking place in the industry, says Wine Marlborough advocacy manager Nicci Armour.

“Farmstrong partnered with Wine Marlborough for the week and were impressed by the industry-level approach to wellbeing and the good work taking place across so many workplaces.” Farmstrong resources, particularly suited for growers, can be found at farmstrong.co.nz.